Bring MORE Fun After School to Your Elementary School

By CORINNE PETERSEN

April 20, 2014 at 12:46 PM

Content Options

MORE After School, Inc., an independent, after school enrichment program for the elementary school level, is thrilled to announce its expansion to other Westfield elementary schools in the coming school year.

MORE is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and a unique program that offers hands-on, intergenerational learning. It was born three years ago over a kitchen table conversation between a few McKinley mothers who believe in educational excellence. Although all three women have higher degrees, they chose to be stay at home, and are committed—as all parents are—to raising educated, respectful, responsible children who can use their skills to give back to the community.

From these values came the mission of MORE: To provide a supportive environment for creative critical thinking, igniting a passion for learning. To instill a sense of civic responsibility and encourage students to know the many facets of their community, empowering them to improve it. To connect younger and older generations eye-to-eye, project-by-project, and expand the perspective of the people in our community, presenting possibilities of lifelong friendship, learning and invention.

For the past three years, MORE has operated in McKinley elementary school, the Westfield Community Center and Tamaques Park. The 60-minute classes are a great value, have a teacher to student ratio of 1 to 4 and are mostly interdisciplinary. As well as having a teacher, each class has at least two mentors—ideally one high school mentor and one empty nester—who connect with the students through each project and reinforce the intergenerational goal of MORE.

The classes embrace an arts and project-based methodology that focuses on skills acquisition and application. They have included: All About Flight; Millinery: Make A Hat!; Toys: Draw, Design, and Invent; Creative Yoga; Drama Basics; Papermaking; Origami; Chemistry of Cooking; Digital Photography; Bugs, Soil and Seeds; Journalism; Computer Animation; Art, Animals and Assemblage; Investigating Artifacts; Technology, Finance and Travel; World Art; and many others. Additionally, MORE values experimentation and growth—new courses are constantly being developed, and any individuals with ideas for a course are encouraged to bring their curriculum to the board.

It’s easy to provide these learning opportunities in your child’s school and support “an environment where children will learn to love to learn.” All you need to bring MORE to your elementary school is three volunteers. These three liaisons, with full support of the MORE board, would meet with their school’s administrators to discuss room assignments, help choose which classes would be offered, photocopy and distribute course offering half-sheets and marketing materials, administer and collect parent/student surveys, poke in to see how classes are going, and monitor the halls during classes (the monitor could send their kids to MORE classes for free).

So what are you waiting for?

For more information, visit www.moreafterschool.org. With interest, questions, comments, or concerns—whether in relation to MORE’s expansion, or in relation to becoming a mentor or developing your dream course—please contact Melissa Colten, MORE President: 201-208-5653, or melissa@moreafterschool.org.

Did you know that most students no longer learn the skill of cursive penmanship? This means that historians in the future may not be able to read historic documents or even personal letters from generations back. As a service to the community, the Westfield Historical Society is sponsoring a penmanship course to help ensure that this important skill does not disappear.

The Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Westfield East office recently hosted a live auction and tricky tray event that raised more than $16,000 to benefit local charities in Westfield and greater Union County through Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Cares. Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Cares is the philanthropic arm of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in New Jersey and ...

The commitment of the Westfield Service League nonprofit organization is to assist charitable, volunteer, civic and service organizations of Westfield and its environs by rendering efficient volunteer service and monetary contributions. Sales in the shops during 2017 have led to donations totaling $59,954 to community organizations. To date the donations from 1941 to present is ...

The last Saturday Trail Work Day of 2017 was a success as 26 volunteers stepped out into the cold to install steps in three newly re-routed sections of the Orange Trail in Union County’s Watchung Reservation.

The steps will help visitors get a close-up view of unique geological features including an ancient lava flow and glacial erratics, the non-native rocks left behind following the ...

Union County Clerk Joanne Rajoppi reminds eligible military veterans that her office provides free veterans discharge identification cards that can be used to obtain discounts at participating restaurants and other businesses.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recently began providing a similar card, but an overload put a temporary halt to the online application process earlier this ...